I've been collecting semiconductor data books for years. It's gotten to the point where something's got to go, but I feel bad about it. Not every piece of data in the world is on the 'net, and there's something far more convenient about paper when you're working at the bench.

Other than a few application books from Nat, LT and BB/TI, and a few discretes books, can anyone give me a good reason not to toss the rest? (or free to a good home if anyone's near Rochester NY)

I've also got a large number of Home Shop Machinist magazines on the verge of the same fate. Hey, and ancient issues of Pop Electronics, Electronics Now and a bunch of others. No used book seller will consider even the best magazines, even if given for free.

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I may be barking up the wrong tree, but at least I'm barking!

Sentimental value
Room acoustic treatment.
Loft Insulation.
Other than that, things change so fast now that all current data sheets can be downloaded as a PDF. It no use linking to the sites as apart from a few stalwarts semiconducter manufactures seem to change hand every other week, probably the financial equivilent of moores law.

Been there done that, only to spend hours wondering where the heck did I put that? Our library has book sales where they take donations and sometimes give you receipts. At least you can take a little off your taxes. Another idea is to see if you have a local radio/hifi club. Some universities also might be interested.

If you bin them, sometime not long after, you'll need them.
If you keep them, you'll never need them.
That's just the way it is.
I had a weed out (down to 14 metres of books) when the
piling under my outhouse office started to collapse, and
soon after, came into the possession of an Analog Devices
type 111 hybrid amp. Nothing anywhere on the net other than
other people looking for data on it, yet I *KNOW* it was in
one of the books I binned.
M

Never bin data books. Try looking up a transistor such as BC109 on the web and compare the data you get with what's in an old Mullard book. One is a two page summary of legal get-out clauses and a SPICE model, the other has thirteen pages of genuine measurements.

I expect your books have already gone to a good home, otherwise I'd happily pay postage to the UK.

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The loudspeaker: The only commercial Hi-Fi item where a disproportionate part of the budget isn't spent on the box. And the one where it would make a difference...

The proper answer is to form some kind of cabal and organize the scanning and sharing of vintage data books and magazines. A lot of them were printed on low-quality paper that won't last forever.

I've got a bunch of Radio-Electronics, Electronics Now, Elementary Electronics, Popular Electronics, and ETI Canada, for example. (And a few Modern Electronics, Radio-TV Experimenter, Electronics Illustrated, to name a few.)

If anyone is serious in doing this, let me know. If there were a hundred people working on R-E or PE, by the time we'd each scanned 6 magazines we'd have 50 years done.